A Warehouse Filled with Polka-Dot Shoes and Book Sales

Today was a great day. I met with one of the most successful entrepreneurs I’ve ever known. Carrie is the owner of Puddle Jumpers Shoes, a line of adorable children’s shoes that she founded thirteen years ago. Her success creating this enterprise bespeaks years of sales, instinct for the industry, and unsurpassed creativity.

As we sat over lunch and talked about her polka-dot shoes, Doce Blant, and books, we both agreed that small business is fighting an uphill battle lately. I asked Carrie what she thought the driving factor was behind decreased sales affecting small business (thinking of the reports I’d heard stating a nationwide decline in printed book sales not too many months ago … and praying it wasn’t true).

Her answer was simple: “I don’t know, honestly.” Well that made two of us! “Sales always drop during an election year but this time, it’s really dipped.”

I went home and dove into the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) site, praying it wouldn’t be true for book sales, scouring for stats and answers pointing to an election year pounding down sales for books. Prepared for the worst, instead, I found the reports showing just the opposite. While eBook sales continued to slowly decrease, trade paperback and audio books rose – beginning in August.

From Jan. to Aug. 2016 vs. 2015:

Part of the vision and goals for 2017 at Doce Blant Publishing is to join ranks and release audio book editions of the Doce Blant books. We are excited about the prospect, which has less to do with sales and more to do with providing what our readers want. Trends detail the demand for audio books is only increasing. Our readers have expressed the same interest, asking that one question over and over again: “When will it be out on audio book?”

We finally have an answer.

Keep a weathered eye out for audio books soon to be released by Doce Blant Publishing, sometime this year. That’s news worth sharing! Something we know Puddle Jumpers Shoes will be happy about too!